Thursday, July 3, 2008

On "I Have Cancer, I Have Cancer" by Jody Madala (1461 words) ***

I have yet to come across something I didn't think was good on Anderbo. I'm sure it will happen at some point, but for now, I marvel at how the taste the editors and I seem to share. This latest story on Anderbo uses the second person. I am also a sucker for the second person. I think most people find second person pretentious or gimmicky. Perhaps, the fact that Choose Your Own Adventure novels were so much a part of my reading when I was young has made the second person seem simply natural to me, a great way to thrust me into the character's life, to make me feel part of the action. In Jody Madala's story, I'm a young, beautiful woman. There are worse things one could be. I'm a woman who does what so many other young women do. I'm kind of a cliche. And yet, I'm me--and those clichés are not clichés when it's me, my actual life. And I'm growing older, and I'm going out less, and I'm wishing I could hold on to what I have, what I had. And, well, the title tells it all. Read the story here.

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